29 Sep 😳Is Your Child With Cerebral Palsy not yet sitting? 🤔Wondering what can you do to help your child learn to sit by themselves?
🧒Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of neurological disorders that affect movement, muscle coordination, and posture. It is a lifelong condition that typically manifests in early childhood and results from damage or abnormalities in the developing brain. The symptoms and severity of CP can vary widely from child to child.
Early intervention is crucial for children with CP to maximise their potential and address developmental challenges as soon as possible. Here at My Favourite Physio, our aim as Paediatric Physiotherapists, is to help every child with CP achieve their best potential.
3 Strategies we use to help children with CP learn to sit independently:
1. Reduce spasticity
Most children with CP tend to have increased muscle tone known as spasticity, in their arms, legs and trunk which causes them to stiffen up and struggle to bend at their waist to sit upright. Using Radial Shockwave Therapy, our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists are able to reduce muscle spasticity, which allows a child to be able to learn to sit.
2. Decrease maladaptive movements
All children innately want to explore their environment, and would often find ways to do so, even if they use maladaptive movement patterns. For example, when placed in sitting, some children with CP tend to flop forward and slide onto their tummy to roll onto their back and “caterpillar” crawl on their back. Our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists will correct their maladaptive movements and teach them the normal movement patterns to move in and out of sitting.
3.Increase core muscle strength
To learn to sit, a child must have strong tummy and back muscle strength. Our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists will design a tailor made Early Intervention Program for each child with CP to help them to strengthen their core muscles to learn to sit.
If your child with CP is not yet sitting, ring My Favourite Physio on📱(02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to book an appointment with one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists 🤓today.